SHOPKEEPERS and hoteliers are worried one of the biggest tourist events in Orkney's calendar could be hit if the lifeline ferry service is not restored.
The four-day Orkney Folk Festival, which is now in its 31st year, is one of the largest folk festivals in Scotland and will open on May 23.
It attracts up to 2000 visitors, many without cars, to Stromness, and they are expected to spend about £500,000 in the area. .
But Serco NorthLink's ferry Hamnavoe, which normally provides the service between Scrabster in Caithness and Stromness, has been out of commission for a week with a broken crankshaft in one of its engines.
Yesterday, using its remaining engine, it limped south to Rosyth where a new crankshaft from Germany will be fitted.
The part is expected to arrive today and the company said it hoped to have the ferry back by Friday, May 24 at the latest.
Pentland Ferries is putting on an extra sailing between Gills Bay, on the Caithness coast and St Margaret's Hope on South Ronaldsay.
But that would require revellers taking their cars, or waiting for a bus.
Doris Fischler, who runs the six-bedroom Orca Hotel in Stromness, said: "We are within two minutes' walk of the ferry from Scrabster, so we very much depend on it, as does all Stromness.
"I have had a lot of cancellations since the ferry went off last, and since then I have not had a single booking."
She said people usually booked short term, "but there is nothing coming now because people know they can't get here".
She said: "I now have only two people staying but have capacity for 14. I also have to phone what bookings I still have and tell them the ferry is off."
She said not everyone would use Pentland Ferries as it meant an hour's drive to Stromness from St Margaret's Hope.
"The busiest week of the year for Stromness is the Orkney Folk Festival.
"It starts on May 23 and the weeks leading up to the folk festival are always very good. So not to have the ferry running is a real kick in the teeth."
She said that under the previous contract – when the ferry was operated by a publicly owned sister company of CalMac's – there was always a replacement ferry provided within a day or so if there was a breakdown.
"So I wasn't too worried when I first heard the ferry was off, but then we all realised there was no backup and no plan B."
Andrew Appleby, a potter in Harray who runs the Harray Potter shop in Stromness and has self-catering units, said local businesses were bearing a heavy cost.
He said: "We rely on the ferry arriving in Stromness, and certainly the several thousand that come for the folk festival do.
"This sends out a message that Orkney is closed for business."
Serco announced last night that it would start running its freight vessel MV Helliar to provide a regular freight service between Scrabster and Stromness.
Stuart Garrett, managing director at Serco NorthLink Ferries, apologised for the breakdown.
He added: "We are pleased that we have managed to secure a suitable location to repair the MV Hamnavoe at short notice."
The firm has been criticised by a German tour operator for its new marketing campaign featuring a nordic Viking whose outstretched arm allegedly has Nazi connotations.
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